The present invention relates to a ceramic recuperator tube and a recuperator employing plural such tubes, and particularly a recuperator of the type wherein plural ceramic recuperator tubes are arranged vertically on top of each other, each recuperator tube having an outer periphery, first and second opposite ends, and a gas passage extending longitudinally between the ends.
Such recuperators are employed to recover the waste heat from heavily contaminated exhaust or waste gases of high temperature by means of preheating air or other noncombustible gaseous media. That is, the heat from the waste gases is employed to heat air or another gas. The optimum mode of operation for recuperators of this type depends particularly on the degree of sealing of the gas carrying recuperator tubes, the mechanical strength of the recuperator tubes, the resistance of such tubes to cracking during operation, the deposit of suspended flue dust carried by the hot gases, and the chemical wear resistance of the ceramic material of the tubes.